Monday, December 31, 2012

Green Day Reschedules Tour, Disses Arizona (For Now)

As we all know by now, Green Day was forced to postpone its scheduled 2012-2013 tour dates so frontman Billie Joe Armstrong could enter treatment for substance abuse. The timing couldn't have been worse: He checked himself in just two days before the release of ¡Uno!, the first of three albums released at the tail end of 2012. (The other two are, of course, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré!)

Those tour dates included a show at Tempe's Marquee Theatre scheduled for Monday, Dec. 10, which would have been quite a treat for the band's fans, considering the Marquee is a fraction of the size of the venues the band has been playing in for years.

Today, in a press release, Green Day announced the first round of make-up dates for the tour, which are all in the upper Midwest and Northeast, including Canada, and run from March 28 to April 12. While the press release also stated that additional dates on the West Coast will be announced in early 2013, unfortunately, the number of shows the band will be playing in the announced dates rivals the number of shows in that region that were canceled with no make-up dates scheduled. Also notable: All of the venues on the new schedule are arenas, or arena-sized.

Which means that if the band actually ends up performing a show in the Phoenix metro area, it likely will be at a much larger venue than the Marquee. (The band's last Phoenix performance was in August 2009, at the US Airways Center.)

For now, Green Day fans will have to sit back, cross their fingers, and wait for the next round of shows to be announced.

The full press release is after the jump.

GREEN DAY ANNOUNCE 2013 TOUR DATES

LOS ANGELES, CA - December 31, 2012 - Reprise Records' multi-platinum Grammy®Award-winning Green Day today announced they would return to the road in 2013 and revealed the routing for their upcoming tour, which can be found below.

"We want to thank everyone for hanging in with us for the last few months," said the members of Green Day. "We are very excited to hit the road and see all of you again, though we regret having to cancel more shows."

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said, "Dear friends... I just want to thank you all for the love and support you've shown for the past few months. Believe me, it hasn't gone unnoticed and I'm eternally grateful to have such an amazing set of friends and family. I'm getting better everyday. So now, without further ado, the show must go on. We can't wait to get on the road and live out load! Our passion has only grown stronger."

Tickets for shows that had been postponed will be honored at these new dates. Should you have any questions regarding your tickets please contact your point of purchase. For those who purchased tickets for dates that are now canceled, refunds will be given at original point of purchase. Additional west coast dates will be announced in early 2013.